Category: Alameda

Just a quick email this week!

Wednesday–I had what was by far one of the most spiritual moments I’ve ever experienced! We taught a new investigator named Teresa and she was so prepared to be taught the gospel! She has a member friend that calls and reads the Book of Mormon or the Bible with her every night! She also told us she has a goal to one day enter the temple with her kids and grandkids, which is exactly what our goal for everyone is. I felt the Spirit so strongly and we are all SO excited to keep teaching her! It is hard to describe how much joy you can feel as a missionary, but we definitely had a special experience on Wednesday and I’m so grateful to be here teaching these wonderful people.

Thursday–We had a wonderful district meeting, and then the Thatchers, the sweet senior missionary couple in our district, bore their testimonies to us because they are about to go home. Then they took us out to Red Robin afterwards. It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of the transfer with this awesome district, especially because three missionaries are going home and two are getting transferred.

On Thursday night, we were in charge of mutual for the youth! I asked the YM and YW presidents if we could hold the activity because I really wanted to show them how to use social media to share the gospel. The bishop was super surprised by the turnout and the activity went really well! I hope that we made some sort of impact on them because I truly believe that technology was given to us as way to further the Lord’s work, and that we should use it as such. It’s incredible that we can now reach the whole world with our message!

Saturday–On Saturday we brought Luz and Anthony to a baptism! It was a very neat experience and I hope that they were able to feel the Spirit. Hermana Cornwall and I gave a presentation about the Restoration of the Gospel, which something our mission president has asked us to do at every baptism. It went really well and the mom of the investigator who was being baptized started crying, so I think we made some impact on her.

Also on Saturday, we finally got transfer news! Hna Cornwall is getting transferred to Vancouver West to whitewash an area AND train! Hna Vazquez and I are staying here, and we’re getting Spanish elders here as well! One of them has been the assistant to the president for the past few transfers, so he is awesome and probably really excited to get back to Spanish. We are so happy to be getting him and whoever his trainee is to help us out with the Spanish work here!

Sunday-We had a munch and mingle with the ward after church! It was a ton of fun, we had investigators and less-active members there, and it was a really great way to end the weekend. Hna Cornwall was really happy about it because she got to say goodbye to everybody. This will be her first time getting transferred!

A small spiritual thought for all of you:
This week I studied how to come to know Jesus Christ in Preach My Gospel, the (book missionaries use to study and learn how to teach). PMG says that the best way to do this is by doing three different things:

1) Read about Him in the Book of Mormon
2) Ponder His teachings in the BoM
3) Pray about the BoM

The key is the Book of Mormon! The BoM testifies of Christ–it “affirms the reality of His life, mission and power.” So it’s that simple, if you want to truly come to know Christ, study the scriptures!

Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Darn, I forgot to send pictures.

Hi everyone, I hope you’ve had a great week! Not a ton happened this week, so here’s just a quick recap.

Monday-My parents sent me a flute! I’m not even going to lie, I was so happy when I got it that I started crying. Hopefully my comps aren’t tired of hearing me play, because I’m going to be using it whenever I get the chance!

Tuesday-Went to teach a lesson over breakfast. Was fed cake, overly sweet yams (again), chicken, and enough rice to feed a starving village in Africa. Died.
No, not really. But if you don’t recognize me when I get home, I won’t blame you haha.

Wednesday-We took the Stake President with us to teach Ali! It was great because he served a Spanish speaking mission and he’s just an awesome leader and teacher. The lesson went really well and was super bold, and I think Ali is much closer to accepting a baptismal date now. He even texted us about 20 minutes later and thanked us for being such a blessing in his life! It’s definitely nice to be appreciated for helping people make changes in their lives.

Thursday-We had exchanges this week. One of the STLs, Sister Davis, stayed with me and Hna Vazquez in our area while Hna Cornwall went with Sister Lavaka to their area. We had such a great day and I learned a TON from Sis Davis. I love being surrounded by so many great missionaries that inspire me to be better.

Friday-I made SO MANY cookies! We eat with the Halls every week and once they found out that I like baking, they put me in charge of dessert haha. I, of course, loved the idea! The cookies turned out great, and I made some members and the elders very happy, so I felt great.

Saturday-I’m starting to learn that when you ask Heavenly Father for help to make certain changes in yourself or develop certain qualities, He’s definitely going to give you plenty of opportunities to do so. There have been some struggles on my mission so far, but I think I was able to see some of the ways those have changed me for the better on Saturday.

Sunday-It was great! We had 3 investigators at church, and we taught them gospel principles again. I’m starting to love teaching the gospel really simply because the simple doctrines are just so beautiful! Just saying that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that He has a plan for each of us is so basic and fundamental, but it’s something that can have a huge impact on people.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that we were asked to go to seminary every day this week! They are studying about Ammon and a lot of the other fantastic missionaries in the Book of Mormon, so the teacher wanted to do a fun missionary week. We taught them a ton of great stuff, like how to do door approaches and how to bear their testimony in Spanish. I loved seminary so much (shout out to my favorite seminary teacher, Sister Cluff!) so it was a neat opportunity to go back this week.

Anyway, I love all of you, and hope things are going well! Whenever things start to get difficult, just remember how much your Savior has done for you, and how much He is still doing for you! I have a firm testimony that if we really look with our spiritual eyes, we can see miracles every day! Keep looking, keep hoping, and keep enduring!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

What a fantastic week! I love being a missionary!

This week tons of things have happened, as usual.

Tuesday-A recent convert fed us sweet potatoes that were drenched in some other sweetener, and all three of us were on the verge of hacking those things back up because they were so nasty. I have never tasted anything so sweet in my entire life, and I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything sweet for almost 2 days afterwards. I haven’t had to eat too many strange or terrible foods yet but I suppose every missionary has to have at least one story, so there was mine.

We also stopped and ate at a ward family’s food cart, which was amazing. And luckily we didn’t have to eat anything sweet there.

After that, we taught a really sweet less-active that has 6 huge dogs! It was crazy but so awesome. One of the dogs was blind!

Wednesday-We got to help one of our members start her family history from scratch and it was so cool! As soon as we helped her get some names put in, thousands of others showed up! I love that this ward is so excited to do family history work. We also got to see their three little girls which remind me a lot of my little sisters, so that was a nice bright spot in my week.

Thursday-We had a FANTASTIC lesson with Ali! He is getting closer and closer to settling on a baptismal date and we couldn’t be more excited for him. We read Moroni’s promise in chapter 10 which talks about seeking to know the truth with real intention, a sincere heart, and faith in Jesus Christ. We picked apart the whole scripture and asked him lots of great questions, and I could feel the Spirit so strongly as we testified to him that he can find answer for himself if he does these things that we are asking him to do.

Another great thing on Thursday–I got a Valentine’s Day package from my family! It’s very fitting that Valentine’s Day is coming up because for some reason we’ve had 4 different members talk to us this week about finding someone to marry after our missions! I definitely don’t want to be thinking about that yet haha.

Friday-We made a new investigator named Oscar!

Saturday-We had a really great lesson with Luz and Anthony. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she loved every bit of it. She is super golden but still has doubts about baptism so we also wanted to figure our what her worried are. We eventually found out that she’s mainly just worried about not being able to be a good enough member after baptism. We told her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how through the Atonement we can repent and overcome all of our mistakes! We told her that she definitely doesn’t have to be perfect to be a member of this church, or to be baptized. What a wonderful thing, to be able to explain this blessing to people! We are definitely going to talk more about the Atonement next time we teach Luz.

Sunday-Sunday was CRAZY, in a good way, of course. Ali, Luz, and Anthony came to church, as well as two less-actives that have been coming back, Ignacio and his grandma, Elba. We taught a gospel principles class for the first time to Ali and Luz, which went really well. And her son Anthony is doing great in primary, so that made me really happy. Every time I see people coming to church I just get an insane grin on my face because it lets me know that they are on the right path. We had NO ONE come to church my entire first transfer, and now we have these sweet people that are progressing so rapidly and I have come to love them so much!

After church, we taught a new investigator named Elsi, and it was awesome! She wanted to hear about the Plan of Salvation, and it basically lined up with everything she already thought! We ran out of time because we had to go to dinner, but we are definitely going to talk so much more about the PoS next time we go to her house.

Finally, at the end of the day, we had half an hour left and we still only had 1 new investigator for the week. Our mission president really wants us to find at least 3, so we were a little discouraged. But, I had a spiritual prompting to go to this random and sketchy apartment complex, and we found 3 more investigators! Our mission president also sent out a rule this past week, that he doesn’t want anyone to knock doors past 7:30. We were worried about that, but decided to be obedient. As a result of that obedience, we were able to surpass our goal and find 4 investigators this week! It was a small but significant miracle to me, and I’m really grateful for all the new people we get to teach.

Have a great week! Share the gospel with somebody!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Hi everyone, I hope you’re doing well! I can’t believe we’re already almost through January. I swear time is speeding up haha.

Anyway, another amazing and crazy week has come and passed. Here’s how my week went down.

Monday-We did service for a family in the group. They are fairly recent converts, and their 2-year-old daughter has cancer. We went and helped them clean up their house, and then made a TON of cookies with their son to help him feel like he’s getting attention. It was such a humbling and sweet experience and I love seeing how the whole ward has been rallying around this family.

Tuesday-We visited a recent convert that is struggling to stay active. She’s very funny and she has a bunch of different nicknames for me that basically just mean white girl haha. It’s kinda frustrating though that she doesn’t really like to talk to me or Hermana Cornwall now that Hna Vazquez is here, because she speaks Spanish so much better than us.

We also found a whole new family of Investigators and they are so awesome! The dad, Jose, was horrified when he found out that Hna Cornwall and I have never tried coffee haha.

Wednesday-This day was super great but REALLY long. We had zone conference pretty much all day and I learned a lot from everyone. We were taught a lot about the importance of communication and obedience.

Thursday-Several zones got to take a trip to the Portland temple! It is BEAUTIFUL and I’m so grateful that we had the opportunity to go inside and enjoy the peace that comes from being in the house of the Lord. Then we taught Ali that night!

Friday-I don’t really remember anything exciting that happened. It’s been a long week haha.

Saturday-We made another new investigator named Victor! He told us a sad story about how he is trying to move because his neighbors are really racist and keep doing terrible things to his family and his dog. After that, we had several hours of cold, rainy contacting. Some people were SO rude but I chose to forgive them and let it go. We also had a super creepy contacting experience with a drunk guy. Anyway, we ended the night with a great lesson with Luz. She is so sweet and truly has a desire to become more like Christ. I just hope that desire will be strong enough to help her enter the waters of baptism and join the church.

Sunday-We had a special stake conference that included a broadcast for the Pacific NW from some of the general authorities. They talked a lot about how to be happy, and they specifically focused on partaking of the sacrament each week and serving others. Always good reminders!

I am sooo tired this week, but it’s a happy tired. I love knowing that I’ve put in my best effort to help others come unto Christ, and that He will make up the difference for whatever I can’t do. Always remember that, Christ will make up the difference! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

I can’t believe I’ve already been gone for three months! This whole mission time-warp thing is all too real. I am so grateful that I still have 15 months left, but I know they are just going to fly by! Anyway, this week was fantastic (like always)! We are having a lot of success with our investigators and it has been amazing to see people progress. Three of our investigators–Ali, Luz, and Walter–are currently praying about baptismal dates and we have seen so much change in them already. They are reading the Book of Mormon, understanding their purpose in life, and spending more time focusing on the things that are truly important. I just hope I get to see at least some of them be baptized before I leave for Puerto Rico! Speaking of which, I found out that they are sending 16 missionaries back this week! I am so excited that PR is getting even more help, and it will be incredible when I actually get to go there. But for now, I will just keep working as hard as I can here in Portland.

Here’s a few interesting stories from my week.

Monday-We ate at MODpizza for dinner which was super yummy. But, after we got back to the apartment Hermana Cornwall accidentally locked our keys in the trunk of the car, so we stayed inside and did online proselyting while we baked cookies for some of our investigators and members. Those of you who know my passion for baking can guess that I’ve been itching for opportunities to whip something together!

Tuesday-We worked with Maricela, our investigator who is learning to read by reading the entire Book of Mormon!

Wednesday-We taught Ali about the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome! He is SO GOLDEN!!! He asks really thoughtful questions, keeps every reading commitment we give him, comes to church every week, and is now praying about a baptismal date. I’m hopeful that his baptism will be one that I will be here to see.

Thursday-I hit my 3-month mark! We also ate dinner with the Gibsons, a family in the ward. They are so cute and some of the best member missionaries I’ve ever met. They invited a neighbor over on the same night they were having all 5 of the missionaries over and it was super great! We all talked about what we learned in the Book of Mormon this week and had a fabulous dinner. I hope he walked away with a good impression of the missionaries and the church.

Friday-It was a crazy day with lots of ups and downs, but it was still good overall because I kept a good attitude. As our mission president says, if you’re not having fun, you need to repent!

Saturday-We taught Luz about the Plan of Salvation and now she is praying about a baptismal date as well!

Sunday-We ate dinner with the Kraais who are another fantastic couple in the ward. Sister Kraai told us that she wants us all to be her daughters haha.

I’ve said it a hundred times but I’ll say it again–I love being a missionary! I know the things I am teaching others are true because the knowledge that I have has brought so much peace into my life. I have felt just like the Lamanites in Helaman 5 who, after they repented of their sins, “were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory.” That is because I have built upon “a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” I know that if you build your foundation on Christ, you can have these same feelings! I love you all, especially those dedicated people who read all the way to the bottom of my emails. Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr